Bed Turning, part two

The second bed in the bed turning had a variety of quilts made by or owned by guild members.  Let's take a look:

The dramatic two color quilt above looks like circles.  

This one looks like a Carpenter's Star.  It has a nice contrast.

This quilt started as a mystery, so a few of the colors were changed along the way as more of the mystery was revealed.  The result is subtle and pleasing.

The next few quilts were all made in the 1930's and 40's.  They are all real treasures, and have the characteristic greens, yellows, and soft pinks of that era.

Edyta's visit, part 2--Antique Inspirations

We had blog posts all ready to go after Edyta's visit last May and never posted them, so here goes!

We recently welcomed Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts for an afternoon of fun, fellowship, and quilts!  Edyta started with this charming little quilt made from leftovers.  This is a traditional tumbler pattern, but Edyta used her acrylic template from her pattern Lollipops to rotary cut the scraps.  What a great memory, and a beautiful quilt!

Edyta loves antique quilts, and shows here how she used a vintage find as inspiration for other quilts.  You can see the similarity between the first two quilts...

...but what if you change the design a little and use batiks in stead of reproduction cottons?

This sweet little quilt is a great Lone Star quilt for starters.  Add applique and your quilt becomes a unique wall warmer.

Edyta has exchanged a lot of strips with other quilters around the world, and finds that she gets a lot of variety this way.  When the strips weren't uniform in size, she came up with a solution of alternating the pieced diamonds with plain ones.

She also strips pieces together, then cuts out the diamond shapes.

This is the cover quilt of her book, Scrappy Fireworks quilts.  It's a more ambitious version of the small quilt above,  but also includes appliques.  The diamond pieced border makes this quilt unique.

And you can use the smallest pieces to make a fabulous quilt!

Edyta finds inspiration all around her, from museums to vintage shops.  A unique antique quilt was the jumping off point for this fabulous quilt, made in Edyta's fabrics.  This sampler quilt really creates a lot of excitement, and yet the blocks flow into one another.

This sweet quilt contains a lot of Edyta's favorite things.  She uses triangle papers to make her half square triangles, and her papers come in 1-1/2" and 2" sizes.  These are perfect for a triangle exchange if you want to get together with your friends and make any of Edyta's quilts from her book, Friendship Triangles.

Even Edyta gets to do English Paper Piecing--in her spare time!

Wool and Cotton

We're working on samples from the book Elegant Quilts, Country Charm by Australian designers Leonie Bateman & Deirdre Bond-Abel.  We have several in progress, but recently fused the wool appliques on this lovely quilt, called Poppy's Quilt.  The designers have several suggestions to hold the wool in place while you stitch it, including stapling the pieces, but we like to use fusible to keep the edges crisp.  We'll stitch the pieces down with our new wool thread from Aurifil.

Mardi Gras Shop Hop

Snow or no snow, we're going to party! The Mardi Gras Shop Hop is Feb. 12 – Feb. 20, 2010 from 9-6 each day, closed Sunday. When you purchase your party pass, you will receive a string of gold beads. When you visit the shops, each one will have a string of different color beads for you. Since the hop is during Mardi Gras, any shops you visit on Fat Tuesday will give you a free fat quarter. All during the hop, each shop will have a pattern using fat quarters as well as a block pattern and kit, and a kit for that shop’s project. The blocks are made from Moda’s Bella Black and batiks. Party Pass is $5 through Feb 11, and $6 during the Shop Hop.

Shops include:

Always In Stitches, Noblesville

Back Door, Greenwood

In Stitches, Rushville

Pohlar Fabrics, Liberty

Quilt Shoppe, Anderson

River’s Edge Quilt Co., Shelbyville

Ruth’s Legacy, Pendleton

Shiisa Quilts, Bloomington

Stitching Nook, Richmond